Bathroom Wiring

I have been lurking around this forum for the past month or so, and I have found it extremely helpful. I now have need to post a question of my own, I apologize if it has been addressed and I did not find the respective post. I own a 1956 Cape Cod, and I currently am rewiring a couple of the original circuits so that they may be grounded. I am also remodelling the main floor bathroom. In opening up the walls, I found that the GFCI receptacle in the bathroom was on the same 15 amp circuit as several lights and the receptacles for a bedroom. I will be running a separate 20 amp circuit to serve this bathroom (I have several 20 amp breakers in my box that are unused), but I do have a couple of questions concerning what it may serve.

1) Directly below this bathroom, I have another bathroom in the basement that does not have a receptacle at all. If I decide to run a 20 amp circuit to this basement bathroom to serve a GFCI, can I run this circuit to the main floor bathroom?
2) In the main bathroom, I also have a switched fan and a switched light (separate fixtures). Should I run these off the GFCI, or should I continue to run these off the current 15 amp circuit?

Thank you in advance for your words of advice.

 

If you power the second bathroom receptacle from the 20 amp receptacle circuit in the first bath,you cannot put the lights and fan (in the main bathroom) on that circuit.Leave them on the existing 15 amp circuit that you have.

 

I hope make this sound understandable. You are allowed to share the gfci recept between 2 baths if it is all they serve, no lights or fans, only the recepts. You can share the circuit with lights and fans if it only serves the 1 bathroom. In your case it sounds like I would leave the lights and fans the way they are and just serve the 2 recepts with the gfci. You really dont want that stuff on it anyway. Its not good to have fan trip lights out while you are in shower or something.

 

The above answers are absolutely correct. However, let me put it one more way.

You have two options. Use whichever one you want:

(1) Put both bathroom receptacles on the same 20-amp circuit, with absolutely nothing else on that same circuit. You can power the lights and fans in those bathrooms off any other circuit or circuits (15-amp or 20-amp) you want (but not the circuit with the receptacles).

(2) Put everything (lights, fan, receptacle) in the main floor bathroom on the same 20-amp circuit, with nothing outside that bathroom on that same circuit. Use another 20-amp circuit in the same way for the basement bathroom.

 

Sorry to barge in on this post but have a question along the same lines. I am adding a basement bath which I was planning on installing a dedicated 20a circuit for. I am installing a combination light/fan/heater as well as a gfci receptacle. In this case, should I be using two 20a circuits since the heater requires 20a?

Thanks!

 

Yes, if any one appliance (in this case your heater) requires it's own 20 amp circuit, you cannot put anything else on it, including a GFCI in the same bathroom.

 

Thank you. I have decided that I will simply run the two bathroom receptacles off the same new circuit, and leave the lights and fan on the current circuit. I installed the box into the downstairs bathroom last night, and I have run some of the wire. Now, I have another question about the GFCI's. Is it not correct that for some reason the receptacle trips in the downstairs bathroom, the one in the main bathroom would also trip (if wired in series)? Can I wire them such that they trip independently (by using pigtails)? Or should I leave them wired in series by attaching the wire directly to the screws? Thanks once again for your help.

 

Your best bet is to use a GFCI receptacle in each bathroom and only connect to the line terminals. That way if one trips, the other bathroom isn't affected.